The Economics of Suicide Terrorism and the Curious Case of Sri Lanka

Scholars examining the characteristics of suicide bombers tend to note that poverty-related variables cannot explain participation (that suicide bombers come from more educated and wealthy circumstances). On the other hand, scholars and practitioners often note that poverty reduction is essential to combatting terrorism (and support for suicide terrorism seems correlated with higher poverty). Much of the empirical work suffers from an over-reliance on the Palestinian case, possible sample-selection bias, and conflating populations with recruits and absolute poverty/low education vs. relative poverty and relative deprivation. Consequently, scholars have concluded that adverse socio-economic conditions and suicide terrorism are unrelated or even inversely related. The demographic qualities of suicide bombers challenge the link between poverty, poor education and violence. While the inverse relationship continues to find broad empirical support, many studies focused on a single case (the Palestinians). Using original data from field research in Sri Lanka this chapter raises critical issues and provides some preliminary empirical support for a link between lower levels of education and support for suicide terrorism. An operative might have different characteristics than the general population from which he/she is drawn. Future research should seek to identify more precise causal mechanisms between socio-economic conditions and suicide terrorism and all forms of political violence, while policies aimed to redress these conditions should continue as constructive elements of broader counter-terrorism strategies.